CHAPTER V

What the Cards can Tell of the Past, the Present, and the Future A simple method—What the cards say—The present—The future.

A Simple Method.

THERE is a very simple and generally accepted method of studying the past, the present, and the future in the light of cartomancy. The selected pack of thirty-two cards is required, and they must be shuffled and cut in the ordinary way. After the cut the packs must not be placed one upon the other until the top card of the lower one and the bottom card of the upper one have been placed aside to form the surprise. The remaining thirty cards are then to be dealt into three equal packs which, beginning at the left, represent respectively the Past, the Present, and the Future.

We will suppose that the knave of hearts, a pleasure-seeking young bachelor, is the inquirer.

The ten cards representing the Past are as follows:—

The queen of clubs, reversed. The king of diamonds, reversed. The ten of clubs, reversed. The nine of diamonds. The eight of clubs. The ace of diamonds, reversed. The ace of hearts, reversed. The knave of spades, reversed. The queen of spades, reversed. The eight of diamonds.

There are three pairs among the ten. Two queens, both reversed, which remind the inquirer that he has had to suffer from the consequences of his own actions. The two aces, also both reversed, refer to some partnership into which he entered with good intentions but which was doomed to failure. The two eights speak of his frivolous pleasures and countless evanescent love affairs.

What the Cards Say.

We will now see what the cards have to say, taken in order. We begin with the queen of clubs, reversed, a dark woman tormented by jealousy, in which she was encouraged by the king of diamonds, reversed, who is a treacherous schemer, wishing no good to the inquirer. The ten of clubs tells of a sea voyage, and is followed by the nine of diamonds, showing that there were vexations and annoyances on that voyage. The eight of clubs speaks of the Inquirer's having possessed the affections of a dark woman, who would have contributed largely to his prosperity and happiness. The ace of diamonds, reversed, represents evil tidings that reached him in connection with the ace of hearts, reversed, which stands for a change of abode, and emanating from the knave of spades, reversed, a legal agent who was not to be trusted. There was also the queen of spades, a designing widow, with whom he had, the eight of diamonds, certain love passages.

The Present.

The ten cards in the centre pack are as follows:—

Ace of spades, reversed. Seven of diamonds. Eight of hearts. Queen of hearts. Seven of hearts. Queen of diamonds, reversed. Nine of spades. King of hearts, reversed. Knave of hearts, reversed. Ten of diamonds.

In this pack we have only two pairs, two sevens speaking of mutual love; and two queens, one being reversed, which suggest rivalry.

Taken in order the pack reads thus:—

The ace of spades, reversed, speaks of sorrow in which he will be treated with a certain amount of heartless chaff and want of sympathy, as it is followed by the seven of diamonds. The eight of hearts tells us that he is entertaining thoughts of marriage, with the queen of hearts, a fair, lovable girl; but the seven of hearts shows that he is very contented with his present condition and in no hurry to change it. He is amusing himself with the queen of diamonds, reversed, who is a born flirt, but more spiteful than he suspects, and who is next to the worst card in the pack, the nine of spades, indicative of the harm she does to him, and the failure of his matrimonial plans. He is cut out by the king of hearts, who thus causes him a serious disappointment, and we see him, himself, reversed as the lover with a grievance; the last card is the ten of diamonds, so he has decided to ease his heartache by travelling.

The Future.

This pack contains the following cards:—

The knave of diamonds, reversed. The seven of clubs. The eight of spades, reversed. The seven of spades, reversed. The ten of spades. The nine of hearts. The king of clubs. The ten of hearts. The king of spades. The ace of clubs, reversed.

The presence of four spades foretells that trouble awaits our bachelor. We again have a pair of sevens, but one is reversed, so he may expect deceit to be at work. The two tens promise him an unlooked-for stroke of tuck to be met with in a new walk in life, while the two kings speak of cooperation in business and of the success which will crown his upright and practical conduct. The wish card, the nine

of hearts, and the ten of hearts in a great measure counteract the mischief represented by the spades.

The inquirer must beware of the knave of diamonds, reversed, who is a mischief maker, who will make use of the seven of clubs, trifling financial matters, either to break off an engagement or to cause an offer of marriage to be refused, as shown by the eight of spades, reversed. The chagrined lover will have recourse to silly stratagems in his love-making, the seven of spades, reversed, and this error will cause him grief, even to the shedding of tears, the ten of spades. The wish card, the nine of hearts, however, brings him better luck in his love affairs through the instrumentality of his trusty, generous friend, the king of clubs. His ill-fortune is further discounted by the next card, the ten of hearts, which promises him prosperity and success. He will find an enemy in the king of spades, a dark widower, who is a lawyer by profession, and none too scrupulous in his ways. He may expect a good deal of troublesome correspondence with this man, as shown by the last card, the ace of clubs, reversed.

The subject of this correspondence is possibly to be found in the surprise, which consists of the nine of clubs, reversed, meaning an unexpected acquisition of money under a will. He will do well to take heed when in the companionship of the knave of clubs, reversed, the second card of the surprise for he is a flatterer and a somewhat irresponsible character.